Existing comment:
Prof. Lowe's Balloon Wagon
Artist unknown, American, 1862 (?)
With the coming of the Civil War, T.S.C. Lowe created and led an observation Balloon Corps for the Union Army. In the spring of 1862, the Union Army attempted to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond by attacking up the Virginia peninsula. This painting of the Union position at White House Landing on the Pamunkey River, shows one of Lower's inflation wagons on shore. Tanks inside the wagon were filled with dilute sulfuric acid and iron filings to generate the hydrogen gas to fill the balloons. |